Tag Archives: The Force Awakens

Some interesting images Star Wars: The Force Awakens images have surfaced which give us new look at the cast of characters, including Rey, Poe, BB-8, Chewbacca, Leia and Han Solo, as well as an epic new shot of General Hux, Kylo Ren and Captain Phasma on the bridge of the Finalizer Star Destroyer.

New Star Wars The Force Awakens Promotional Images _ Rey and BB8 on the planet Takodana

BB-8 and Rey witnessing the First Order arriving for the Battle of Takodana.

Empire Magazine have just revealed their six Star Wars: The Force Awakens ‘Special Edition’ covers which look quite fantastic, but their saying they are even better in the flesh, as they are making use of dazzling lenticular 3D technology.

Finn, played by John Boyega, is the Stormtrooper-turned-rebel, and appears on the cover wielding Luke Skywalkers blue lightsaber. JB described his first lightsaber experience: “I held it in my hand and I just felt, you know, the clouds open up and the white doves come flying down”.

But if that wasn’t enough, there is also an extremely Limited Edition special issue, for us dedicated Star Wars fans. Partnering up with Hasbro and Sainsburys, they’ve included an official action figure of Kylo Ren with certain Force Awakens issues. Only 4,500 copies of this special issue will be printed, making it an instant collector’s item.

UPDATE : Empire Exclusive Images

Below is another Hi-Res Empire exclusive of hotshot Resistance X-wing pilot, Dameron who is sent on a special mission by “a certain princess”, crossing paths with John Boyega’s Finn before their “fates are forever intertwined”.

Empire Magazine Exclusive Poe Dameron captured by the First Order Hi Res

Following on the exciting news about Star Wars Land coming to Disney Parks, the current Star Wars experiences at Walt Disney World Resort will be enhanced in Florida and Disneyland Resort in California later this year.

Star Wars Launch Bay Disney

There’s the Star Wars Launch Bay – Opening later this year, this interactive experience will take guests at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida and Disneyland park in California into the upcoming film, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, as well as the first six films in the Star Wars saga.

Hyperspace Mountain Star Wars Season of the Force

Disney Quote: Season of the Force – This new seasonal event, beginning early 2016, brings new experiences to both coasts. In Tomorrowland at Disneyland park, guests will explore the Star Wars galaxy with special entertainment, themed food locations and Hyperspace Mountain – a reimagining of the classic Space Mountain attraction in which guests will join an X-wing starfighter battle. Disney’s Hollywood Studios will feature a new fireworks spectacular set to the iconic score of the Star Wars movies on weekend nights.

Even the classic Star Tours which I’ve been on quite a few times, (that’s me below on the speederbike in Florida) will include a new adventure featuring locations and characters from the upcoming film, Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

So we now have some captivating new information concerning the main villain in Star Wars: The Force Awakens that was teased by J.J Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly. They’ve said Kylo Ren, who is played by Adam Driver isn’t his real, but instead he’s named in the same way in which Vader is called a Darth like many other Darth names in the Star Wars universe. The Darth name is often thought to be a combination of letters from the title Dark Lord of the Sith, a theory which is only officially alluded to in Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force, but many other theories exist like, Darth may also be a portmanteau of dark and death. Instead for Kylo he’s now part of The Knights of the Ren.

So what is this group called Ren’s and what does it stand for? Is it Knights of the Renegade? Is he linked to Luke? Who knows?

But whilst talking to EW, director Abrams confirmed that Ren is someone who’s aware of the events that took place during the original Star Wars trilogy and that his appeal is Ren’s intentional nod to Darth Vader.

“The movie explains the origins of the mask and where it’s from, but the design was meant to be a nod to the Vader mask. [Ren] is well aware of what’s come before, and that’s very much a part of the story of the film.”

Abrams also revealed that Kylo’s weapon of choice, the infamous crossguard lightsaber that he wields is something he built himself, and “is as dangerous and as fierce and as ragged as the character.” Not only that, but apparently the character sees himself as the hero of the story. The director explained

“As you see in the best of storytelling, and no doubt the best of Star Wars, these are tales in which an every person has to step up. And I think that what makes Ren so unique is that he isn’t as fully formed as when we meet a character such as Darth Vader. And I think that there are two sides to the Force. Both sides, arguably, would see themselves as the hero of their story, and I think that applies here.”

“Kylo Ren won’t be the only “Ren.” The title of “Ren” is something that someone has to earn.” Abrams said,

“He is a character who came to the name Kylo Ren when he joined a group called the Knights of Ren. He is not your prototypical mustache-twirling bad guy. He is a little bit more complex than that, and it was a great joy to work with Adam Driver on this role, because he threw himself into it in a deep and remarkable way.”

Lawrence Kasdan also waded in with his input on the character and also talked about Driver’s performance in the movie:

“I’ve written four Star Wars movies now, and there’s never been a character quite like the one that Adam plays. I think you’re going to see something that’s brand new to the saga. He’s full of emotion. No matter how we express ourselves in the world, whether we hide it and act very calm or whether we’re very out there and demonstrative, everybody’s roiling with emotion. And you want your characters to be that way, too. Then they have to deal with their emotions as best they can, with what they are. (Kasdan pauses as if he is on the verge of saying too much)… I’d say that is as far as I’d go”.

So after learning all this ‘new’ information, how does this character fits into the saga? Is Ren in some way related to the Skywalker family. With his knowledge of the events that took place in the original trilogy and his obsession with Darth Vader. Is he this inverse of Luke? Is Ren perhaps not the villain but the hero who comes from no means, who rises from obscurity and yet still manages to cause tremendous upheaval in the force…is he the new chosen one?

“Noooo! I’ll never join you!” That’s what Luke Skywalker cried out when Darth Vader asked him to cross over to the Dark Side and rule the galaxy alongside him, and J.J Abrams basically said the same thing to Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy when she first reached out to ask if he’d sign on to help launch the first in a new assemblage of Star Wars films.

Kennedy persuaded him to helm the film by asking him one simple question, one with the potential to upend our core beliefs about the galaxy far, far away. “In the context of talking about story and laying out what we were thinking, I said one thing to him,” Kennedy recalls. “‘Who is Luke Skywalker?’”

Abrams, decided he needed to know the answer, even if he had to devise it himself. “He said, ‘Oh my God, I just got the chills. I’m in,’” Kennedy says. “I mean, it really was almost that quickly.”

It would definitely make The Force Awakens a more dramatic film if Kylo Ren was related to the Skywalker family.

One last ’put it out there idea’ like with the Sith, “Always two there are, a master and an apprentice.” Who is Ren’s master …Luke?

Kylo Ren amongst the smoldering ruins of a Jakku Village Star Wars The Force Awakens

One final final bit…The latest released image which shows Kylo flanked by First Order stormtroopers, striding with intense purpose through the smoldering ruins of a once peaceful village on Jakku..

Today (Star Wars Day) Vanity Fair have given us a unique behind-the-scenes look at Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The magazine has released six new photos from the film that were taken by none other than the legendary photographer Annie Leibovitz.

The images include an official reveal of Adam Driver playing the dark-cloaked Sith villain Kylo Ren, as well as actress Lupita Nyong’o playing her motion capture character, who is a pirate by the name of Maz Kanata. Then, of course there are Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron, a group of various alien creatures, and members of the film crew, such as director J.J. Abrams.

J. J. Abrams directs Actress Daisy Ridley for a scene in which her character, the young heroine Rey, pilots her speeder through a bustling marketplace on the planet Jakku

J. J. Abrams directs Actress Daisy Ridley for a scene in which her character, the young heroine Rey, pilots her speeder through a bustling marketplace on the planet Jakku

A small galaxy’s worth of tracking dots affixed to Lupita Nyong’o’s face allowed artists at Industrial Light & Magic to transform her into the C.G.I. character Maz Kanata

A small galaxy’s worth of tracking dots affixed to Lupita Nyong’o’s face allowed artists at Industrial Light & Magic to transform her into the C.G.I. character Maz Kanata

Galactic travelers, smugglers, and other assorted riffraff fill the main hall of pirate Maz Kanata’s castle

Galactic travelers, smugglers, and other assorted riffraff fill the main hall of pirate Maz Kanata’s castle

Next-generation bad guy Kylo Ren Adam Driver commands snowtroopers loyal to the evil First Order on the frozen plains of their secret base

Next-generation bad guy Kylo Ren Adam Driver commands snowtroopers loyal to the evil First Order on the frozen plains of their secret base

Members of the brains behind The Force Awakens composer John Williams, producer and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, cowriter Lawrence Kasdan, and director and cowriter JJ Abrams

Members of the brains behind The Force Awakens composer John Williams, producer and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, co- writer Lawrence Kasdan, and director and co-writer J.J. Abrams, who also gave a glowing report on Harrison Ford to Vanity Fair…

But the magic of Star Wars isn’t all about the creatures; the best effect in the wildly popular new trailer (88 million views and counting!) may have been Harrison Ford, slipping seamlessly back into Han Solo’s classic slow grin. Abrams himself was surprised by the performance and said that Ford “was excited to get back in those shoes again, which was really interesting because I thought he hadn’t been a fan. I kept hearing those rumors when I was a kid.” Abrams did have one specific note for the veteran actor: “I knew that he had done in some movies a kind of more growly thing, and I didn’t want Han to be growly.” Whatever Abrams said must have worked because, as the director himself put it, “There was a fire in his eyes that you see in the movie.”

We also got our first look at Gwendoline Christie’s character Captain Phasma.